Eve and Dinah are everything to each other never parted day and night they are raised among the a community of strays and orphans ruled by a mysterious figure they call uncle all they know is the grey isle of altnaharra which sits in the black sea off the wildest coast of Scotland Eve loves the free savage life of the isle and longs to inherit uncle’s power she is untroubled save by her dreams of soft arms and a woman singing Dinah longs for something other but the world is at war and cannot be kept at bay
Totally enjoyable read I couldn’t put it down totally recommend
Thank You NetGalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge
I just reviewed Little Eve by Catriona Ward. #LittleEve #NetGalley

Altnaharra is not like any other place. Somehow hidden in the coast of Scotland, surrounded by water and rocks, and fortified by fear and dark rumors, Uncle prepares two women and four children for the inevitable end of days.

But then something happens, and everyone but Dinah dies in a terrible ceremony gone wrong, making it possible for an 'impure outsider', Chief Inspector Black, to get closer to the cult than anybody before. And some of the secrets in Altnaharra may just be mortal...

After devouring both The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial, I knew I just needed another dosis of Catriona Ward, and this little gothic novel held me by the throat from the very first pages -you can feel Altnaharra in every step of the journey and you will end up fearing the benison as much as the characters themselves- and, even if there were moments when the rhythm seemed a little bit off, I found it entertaining in its crude hopelessness.

Catriona Ward's prose is just mesmerizing and absorbing. It describes everything you need to see and still leaves you wanting more. The story may not be as original as Needless Street, or as utterly uneasy as Sundial turned out to be, but it makes for an amazing reading nevertheless.

By the end of the book, you understand every characters' fears and hopes, every twist and turn, every lie and every truth, but there's still something calling from the darkness of Altnaharra, waiting patiently to be rediscovered in a second reading.

This is another bleak, dark and gothic Catriona Ward’s creative mind experience centered on two orphan girls’ lives within a cult, led by one man called himself “Uncle”. There are two other children, two women in their group living in poor conditions, ostracized by the public, at a mansion located in grey Isles of Altnaharra which seats in the black sea off the wildest coast of Scotland.

They keep practicing the rituals to get ready for the end of the world. All the events take place between 1917- 1921.

The opening of the story is blood freezing and shocking ( I don’t expect less from the author) Jamie MacRaith, the butcher of Altnaharra , reluctantly goes to the haunted mansion where the creepy lives to deliver their daily order, finding the door unlocked. He finds the entire family lying dead instead of two orphans. Dinah fights for her life, lying on the floor, one of her eyes is scratched and Eve is nowhere to be seen. She’s the one who is responsible of the massacre.

Then we move backward to find out the creepy dynamics, bizarre rituals of the family.

This gothic tale includes so many bloody murders, jaw dropping, heart throbbing moments and the story unfolds with a twist that you didn’t see it coming!

It’s a bloody fast pacing Northern Gothic for the horror fans and truly dedicated fans of the author like me! I recommend you to save it for Halloween which may increase its full impact!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan/ Tor- Forge for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

A re-release of Ward’s 2018 book takes readers to a remote Scottish island where one man has formed a tiny cult consisting of two women and four children. Taking place between 1917 and 1921, this novel has a decidedly Gothic feel, and like some of Ward’s other books, is just a little too ambitious. There’s too much going on. I felt like all the characters were just out of my grasp, I didn’t have the time or information to form a connection to any of them